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Bringing you the weird and wild from the world of MMA each and every weeknight!
Welcome to Midnight Mania!
The saga continues! Jon Jones and Israel Adesanya snipe at one another at least once every few weeks, typically to accuse the other of ducking the fight. However, the fight seems to be moving closer to reality, as Adesanya has outlined his plan to win the Light Heavyweight title then face Jones in July of 2021.
It’s a good plan, but also one that assumes “Bones” is willing to play along. After smacking down Daniel Cormier’s attempts to discount him in the GOAT rankings earlier today, Jones returned to Twitter to let “Stylebender” know that it’s up to Jones if, when, and where the bout takes place.
Yeah just how he envisioned it, the arena he wanted and everything. There’s not a man on this planet that tells me what to do. I march to the beat of my own drum.. there’s no red panty night for Izzy without me, I may just keep him broke https://t.co/U2SVJ4x7a8
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 17, 2020
In addition, Jones made an effort to refute Adesanya’s recent trash talk. Just a couple weeks ago, Adesanya described Jones as “washed” and mocked him for taking 10 years to move up in weight. Jones refuted that claim, instead pointing out that Adesanya waited until “Bones” left the division before trying to make his run.
I’m glad you guys can see the Fuckery, there’s nothing bigger for me than the heavyweight championship. Done playing little games https://t.co/yy6Rp0bwnC
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 17, 2020
You guys can believe that shit if you want to. He was too afraid to fight me at light heavyweight, now you actually believe he’ll meet me to HW. Love how you guys eat that silly shit up, keep buying those wolf tickets https://t.co/6esUBIfC00
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 17, 2020
But instead he made excuses until I left the division. Straight chickenshit https://t.co/i2ECxDip3v
— BONY (@JonnyBones) November 17, 2020
Adesanya is already a pretty big star, and his fame is only going to grow exponentially if he’s successful in taking a second title. However, it definitely does take two to tango, and unless Adesanya, Jones, and UFC all agree on terms, this fight is going to remain on Twitter.
Insomnia
What are the odds on this supposed “longtime friend” bought his way into Mike Perry’s corner?
Mike Perry returns this weekend.
His corner, per his manager Abraham Kawa, will be his (pregnant) girlfriend and a long-time friend of his who isn’t a fighter.
Darren Till did not make the cut.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) November 16, 2020
Paul Felder is a hero.
In honor of @felderpaul fight tomorrow Throwback to this beauty when me and @JFlashGordonMMA told him our boy was. Prince and he had to kiss his hand pic.twitter.com/wtjuVlH3Y9
— Belal Muhammad (@bullyb170) November 13, 2020
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Alexander Hernandez sounds like an awesome match up of Lightweight young guns.
There is no off season, ready to fight ? Or you will go running? How about a nice scrap for the fans December 12th @TheGreat155 pic.twitter.com/hBbFbLZek2
— Arman Tsarukyan UFC (@ArmanUfc) November 16, 2020
It’s becoming apparent that UFC should start an entire sitcom based off awkward USADA interactions.
Got ready to go to a fancy party, took a piss, popped an edi, and guess who shows up 5 minutes later? USADA!! @usantidoping Sitting here because I can’t piss and every minutes that edi is kicking harder and harder…
— Tyson Nam (@TysonNam) November 14, 2020
Reminder: everyone has good and bad days in sparring, and there may have been a specific reason Petr Yan was fighting exclusively as a Southpaw (i.e. injury or strategy for next fight). So don’t read too much into it, but here’s a dope clip of Alexander Volkanovski sparring with “No Mercy.”
Volkanovski out striking PetrYan pic.twitter.com/mOZy9gSrmL
— ??MMA_Isaac (@Isaac9779) November 15, 2020
An interesting list of up-and-coming talent:
Slips, rips, and KO clips
A well-timed high kick checks whether or not the opposing fighter is keeping his right hand high while jabbing … and he is not.
Danil Vaganov with the 24 second lead high kick finish #MMASeries20 pic.twitter.com/ztOnfYyJwb
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 14, 2020
Bogdanov flurries on a seemingly outmatched opponent:
Ivan Bogdanov KO2 Vasily Babintsev with the knee and left hook #MMASeries20 pic.twitter.com/vTbClvnwn1
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) November 14, 2020
I do not know who this random “Street Beef” participant is, but he knows how to put weight into his left hand.
Fucking streetbeefs pic.twitter.com/in6yVjCX8a
— Connoisseur of Combat (@ConOfCombat) November 15, 2020
Random Land
One hell of a skim:
Midnight Music: It’s back to just me in charge of picking the songs — which, again, are usually a track/album/artist I listened to while writing, or at least during the day. Hope y’all enjoyed the brief guest curation!
Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.